Edible oils is one of the big commodities for Cargill, which has seen a decline of about 20% to 30%. However, the company is optimistic that the sales will come back to normal in a couple of months because it is an essential commodity.NEW DELHI: Food major Cargill India has seen a considerable drop in sales of cooking oils and animal feed after demonetisation, but its branded wheat flour sales have risen as rivals in the unorganised sector have taken a hit, chairman Siraj Chaudhry said.

The business of animal feed for dairy, poultry and aqua has seen a 10% to 15% decline in sales. “The drop was expected because there is a shortfall in cash. We obviously sell to distributors in cheque but they go and resell it in cash, which is seeing a dip,” Chaudhry added.

Edible oils is one of the big commodities for Cargill, which has seen a decline of about 20% to 30%. However, the company is optimistic that the sales will come back to normal in a couple of months because it is an essential commodity.

Comfort food, such as pastries, ice creams and noodles are hit by a larger proportion as consumers continue to cut down on leisure eating.

On the other hand, whole wheat flour (aata) sales, under Cargill’s brand Nature Fresh, have seen a spurt in demand, resulting in a larger offtake for them. “The reason is that a lot of aata production is in the unorganised sector and that sector obviously has been affected by this change.”

Cargill's corn-milling plant in Karnataka, which was set up earlier this year, has had its business impacted in the past three weeks. “It could be a 20% to 30% contraction, at least. The recovery there may take longer,” he added.

Chaudhry said he is confident that demonetisation will benefit organised players and will create a level-playing field for them. If there is a paucity of products which were earlier going outside the banking system into the market, it will create space for those channelled through the banking system, he added.

As people are pushed further towards cashless transactions, it is expected that the process of agriculture market being more organised will hasten. A cashless economy, however, will take a “long time” to be realised, the Cargill India frontman added.

Chaudhry maintained that consumer confidence must he held up as India is a consumption-driven economy, and a large proportion of foreign investment also depends on the same. Cargill India,being in agriculture, food, feed business touches a large section of the population, selling directly to consumers and also contributing to raw materials for other food businesses.